The Backyardigans: The Mouse Problem
by Katy-Kale
Summary: The Backyardigans find out that there is a mouse in the hotel they are staying at, causing them to go on another adventure.
1. A Mouse in the House

Uniqua, Austin, Tyrone, and Tasha were staying at a hotel for a vacation with Tasha's Mum (who had kindly invited them). Tyrone was taking a nap on the sofa, Austin was coloring in a picture, and Uniqua was reading a book when suddenly...

"AHHHHH! It-It's a-a-a a mouse! It's a mouse!" screamed Tasha, pointing at a crack between the floorboard and the wall.

Austin looked up from the picture he was coloring in and realized that he had also seen the same mouse earlier. A round fuzzy thing. At first, he had mistaken it for a lollipop that had fallen behind the sofa and collected a pelt of dust fur. Now Austin knew what it really was.

"A mouse? Where?" he asked Tasha, who was now teetering on the arm of the sofa.

"HewentrightoverthereohmygoodnessitsnuckintothekictchenamousetheresamouseinthekitchenTyronedosomething!"

"What?" asked Tyrone, lying on the couch sleepily.

**Ta: Tyrone, there's a mouse in the house!  
Ty: Let me sleep.  
Ta: You're supposed to be my friend!  
Ty: Not one peep.  
Ta: Well-run hotels don't have mice everywhere! An invasion of rodents is more than I can bear!  
Ty: Oh. it's only one and I don't care. Let. Me. Sleep!**

**Ta: A place for everything and everything in its place. That's the way I try to run my house. There's a place for every spoon and a place for every dish. But there simply are no places for a mouse.  
Ty: A nap for every hour and a dream for every nap. I give each the attention it deserves. You know I don't do windows, and you know I don't do mice. So keep it down, you're getting on my nerves.**

**Ta: There's a mouse in the house!  
Ty: Let me sleep!  
Ta: You're supposed to be my friend!  
Ty: Not one peep.  
Ta: You need to help. You have got a job to do!  
Ty: It's not in my contract, read paragraph two.  
Ta: Tyrone, get up! I am warning you! Catch that mouse or you're in trouble deep!  
Ty: Oh, let. Me. Sleep!**

"Tyrone, you need to catch that mouse!" said Tasha, who was now running back and fourth in a panic. "I need a mousetrap. No, first I need string. No, wait, I need a cat. I HAVE to get a cat! Wait, I have a cat, sort of." said Tasha, remembering that she had a pet cat at her house that was now unreachable.

Uniqua, Austin, and Tyrone just stared at her for a moment.

"Hey! How about some cheese!" said Uniqua.

"Oh, no thanks. I'm not hunrgy." said Tyrone.

"No, I mean that we can use it to lure the mouse into a cage."

"Great idea!" said Tasha.

"Only one problem," said Austin, "We don't have a cage."

Everyone looked around for a cage (or something that resembled one) to use. There wasn't one. Everyone sighed sadly. It was time to call a professional. Tasha told her mum about the mouse and then she and The Backyardigans went down to the front desk.

Tasha's mum asked the doorman for the service-request book, so she could give their problem to the proper authorities.

"What's the problem?" asked the doorman.

"We've got a mouse." said Tasha's mum.

The doorman's face went pale. He withdrew the book before Tasha's mum could write anything, and then spoke very quietly into his walkie-talkie.

The manager materialized in seconds. He was explained the situation, and he responded in a whisper. The building hadn't had any mice in years, he said. _Years. _But he'd take care of it. In the meantime -he handed Uniqua a small cage- the four Backyardigans could try to find a way to catch it.

Also, he said -practically passing a hand over everyone's face to complete the Jedi mind trick- _They didn't see any mouse._

* * *

**Author's Note: This fanfic is based on a story by Chris Kaye called "Sic Transit Rodentia". I do not own it or The Backyardigans. ****Also, the song is from a Garfield episode called "Rodent Rampage", only I changed some of the words around to make it fit in well.**

**Please review! :)**


	2. The Cheese Shop

Uniqua, Tasha, Tyrone, and Austin got back to their hotel room.

"We'll, we've got the cage now." said Tyrone. _That certainly was convenient._ he thought.

"Now all we need is the cheese." said Uniqua.

The four of them ran into the kitchen and opened the fridge. There was: Milk, eggs, butter...but no cheese.

"Aww, man!" said Uniqua.

"Bummer." said Pablo.

Suddenly, Austin had an idea.

"I know where we could find cheese!" he said, "At a cheese shop in France!"

Everyone looked at Austin as if he'd gone mad.

Uniqua quickly caught on with Austin's idea. "Yeah! Austin and I can get the cheese in France, while Tasha and Tyrone can stay here in the hotel to try and catch the mouse."

"Okay." said Tyrone. They all began to sing.

(Tune: The cheese song in the "Front Page News" episode.)

**U: Such a big mousey, could eat a whole lot,  
So when he wants cheese, we'd better feed him what we've got.  
Such a big mousey, could make a big mess.  
Ty: So when he says cheese, we better give him some, I guess.  
(Mouse: Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak!)**

**A & U****:****Cheese, cheese, the mousey wants cheese.  
Ta:**** So run to the store and get some more, please!  
A & U:**** We're gonna save the day and make it okay, but first we need some cheese!  
****(Mouse: Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak!)**

**Ta:**** He's asking for cheese, so drive to a town, bring some Swiss and whatever can be found!  
A mousey like him, could chew through a whole town.  
U:**** Cause he's in a cheesy mood, and he wants to ch-how down.  
****(Mouse: Squeak-squeak-squeak!)**

**U, Ty, Ta: Cheese, cheese, the mousey wants cheese.  
Ta:**** So run to the store and get some more, please.  
A & U:**** We heroes will prevail, there's no way we can fail, but first we need more cheese!  
P:**** He's nasty when he's hungry, and that's why we better,  
Bring more American and bring more Cheddar.  
Ty:**** Why does he want so much? Is it for a mouse party?  
A: I think we should buy crackers, and a cream-y ha-var-ti.  
(Mouse: Squeak-squeak-squeak!)**

**A, U, Ty, Ta, P: Cheese, cheese, the mousey wants cheese.  
P: The fridge is all out, do you think he likes peas?  
A & U: Us heroes will prevail, there's no way we can fail, but first we need more cheese!**

Uniqua and Austin opened the door that led to the hallway.

"So off we go to Paris." said Austin.

"Where there is a cheese shop." said Uniqua.

"And wide street roads."

They both started running down the hallway, which slowly transformed into the streets of Paris.

* * *

"HONK! HONK!" went the car horn of the old-fashioned car (an 'Austin mini', to be precise) that Uniqua and Austin were now driving in. Uniqua was reading a map, while Austin was driving.

"There's only one cheese shop in this entire town!" said Uniqua, bewildered.

They stopped the car in front of the cheese shop, unbuckled their seat belts, and stepped into the shop. Inside it were shelves and shelves of antique plates (the kind used to hold cheese), but no actual cheese was in sight. Austin and Uniqua ran up to the counter and rang the bell.

"Hello, welcome to my cheese shop! How may I help you?" asked the shopkeeper. It was Pablo, dressed in a white baker's apron. He was also wearing a large hat that was shaped like a slice of cheddar, and had a collection of cheese shop badges pinned all over his apron.

"We'd like to buy some cheese." said Uniqua.

"Certainly, madam. What would you like?"

"Well, how about a slice of cheddar."

"I'm, afraid we're fresh out of cheddar, madam." said Pablo.

"Oh, never mind. How are you on Edam?"

"Never at the end of the week, madam. Always get it fresh first thing on Monday."

"Well, some Caerphilly, then, if you please." said Austin.

"Ah well, it's been on order for two weeks, sir, I was expecting it this morning."

"Um, Double Gloucester?"

"Sorry, no."

"Red Windsor?"

"Normally, sir, yes... but today the van broke down."

"Oh... Stilton?"

"Nuh-uh." said Pablo, shaking his head.

"Any Lancashire?"

"No."

"White Stilton?" asked Uniqua.

"No, madam."

"Any Danish Blue?"

"...No."

"Cheshire?"

"No."

"Brie? Camenbert?" asked Austin.

"Ah! We do have some Camembert, sir."

"You do! Excellent." said Austin.

"...It's a bit runny, sir."

"Oh, I like it runny." nodded Austin.

"Well as a matter of fact it's _very_ runny, sir."

"It doesn't matter. Hand over le fromage de la Belle France qui s'apelle Camembert, s'il vous plaît."

"I... I think it's runnier than you like it, sir."

"I don't care how runny it is. Please hand it over."

"Yes, sir," said Pablo, bending down to look under the counter, "Oh..."

"What!?!" yelled Uniqua.

"The cat's eaten it."

"Has he?"

"She, madam."

There was a short pause before Uniqua continued.

"...Gouda?"

"No."

"Smoked Austrian?" asked Austin.

"Yyyyynnnnyyyyyynnnnnnno. No."

"You do have some cheese, do you?"

"Of course we do! It's a cheese shop." giggled Pablo nervously.

"Gorgonzola?"

"No."

"Parmesan!?!"

"No."

"Sheep's Milk Cheese?"

"No."

"Do you have some Mozzarella?"

"I'll have a look, sir," said Pablo, checking underneath the counter again, "...Nnnnnnnnnnnnnno."

"...It's not much of a cheese shop really, is it?" said Austin.

"It's the finest in the district, sir." said Pablo.

"And what leads you to that conclusion?"

"Well, it's so clean!" grinned Pablo.

"Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by cheese." said Uniqua, looking around.

"You haven't asked me about Limberger."

"Is it worth it?" asked Austin.

"It could be."

"OK, have you got any Limberger?"

"No."

"No? That figures. It was pretty predictable, really. It was a forlorn hope to even ask the question in the first place." said Uniqua.

"Tell me something, do you have any cheese at all?" asked Austin.

"Well, uh..." began Pablo.

Uniqua interrupted him. "I bet it's hidden somewhere!"

Uniqua started looking around the shop, lifting up plates to check if there was any cheese hidden underneath it. Austin started to search the room as well.

Suddenly, Uniqua noticed a door behind the counter. She ran over to open it, but it was locked.

"What's behind this door?" asked Uniqua to Pablo.

"You can't go in there!" yelled Pablo.

"Why not?" asked Uniqua.

"Because... because..." Pablo sighed, "Because I can't. I just can't open it," Pablo walked over to the door to try and open it. He pulled and pulled on the handle, but no matter how much he pulled, he couldn't open it.

"Let's all try together." said Austin.

Uniqua and Austin joined Pablo, but the door still wouldn't move.

"What if we tried _pushing _it." offered Uniqua.

Pablo and Austin both looked at Uniqua, surprised.

"No way!" said Austin.

"It can't be _that_ simple!" said Pablo.

"Well, try it!" said Uniqua.

"Alright." sighed Pablo and Austin.

Pablo pushed the door, and sure enough, it opened. The three of them walked in and saw mountains and mountains of every kind of cheese imaginable.

"Woah..." said Austin.

"You can say that again." said Uniqua.

"Alright. Woah..."

"Thank's for helping me," said Pablo, "You can have any cheese you want in here. Free of charge."

"We'll take your finest slice of cheddar." said Austin.

"And maybe you could come with us, we're trying to trap a mouse." said Uniqua.

"Sure, I'll come." said Pablo, waddling to a shelf and pulling out a large slice of cheddar.

* * *

**A/N: There was an obvious reference to Monty Python's famous 'Cheese Sketch', which I do not own, and the door idea was from the Backyardigans episode 'Knights are Brave and Strong'.**

**Please review.**


	3. Meanwhile, Tyrone & Tasha

"Ah! There it is!" yelled Tasha, pointing at a dusty corner in the wall.

"Where?" asked Tyrone, carrying the cage with him.

"There! Under the chair!" she said, climbing onto the sofa, "Oh, wait... it's a moth."

"A moth? You don't know the difference between a mouse and a moth?" asked Tyrone.

"It was flying around down there where it's dark, so it looked like a mouse."

"Here's a hint on how to distinguish a mouse from a moth: Mice don't fly."

Tasha crossed her arms. "Then how did he get up here?"

"Hmm..."

The question of how this tiny rodent made his way onto the fifth floor of the hotel was a bit of a mystery. Tyrone began to speculate on how it happened.

_Maybe the mouse snuck into the elevator. Wait, don't mice swim? He could have come up through the toilet pipes! Or perhaps he was delivered to us in a grocery bag. Could the grocer who delivered the bag of vegetables at three in the mourning have had anything to do with this?_ It all seemed possible.

Tyrone had set up some clever traps with the little resources he had. To make some glue traps, he got some pieces of paper, pasted some glue on them, and left them all over the floor as small rectangles of sticky doom. Tyrone had even made the traditional 'propped-up shoe box with string', using a laundry hamper he found.

Nothing worked.

Forensic evidence showed that the mouse had indeed entered the laundry hamper to explore, and crept away unscathed, when Tyrone wasn't paying attention.

This was crazy. They were being outsmarted by an animal with the brain the size of a Skittle.

"That mouse sure is crafty," said Tyrone, "Imagine if he gets hold of a thimble, some chewing gum, and a paperclip... He'd take over the entire building."

Eventually, Tyrone and Tasha decided that it would be better if they waited for the others to arrive with the cheese. Tyrone started putting the 'traps' away.

"Let's have a snack." said Tyrone, going into the kitchen and pulling out a jar of peanut butter to make a sandwich with.

"Yes, let's," replied Tasha, "...I wonder how Uniqua and Austin are doing."


	4. The Boarder

"Come on Pablo!" called Uniqua from the front seat of the car.

"Just a second!" yelled Pablo. He quickly put the cheese in the boot of the car. Then he took off his apron and cheese hat and placed it on top of the cheese, closing the boot.

Austin watched from the driver's seat. "Why did you take your apron off?" he asked.

"Um, well, I don't want anyone to know that I own the cheese shop."

"Why not?" asked Uniqua.

"Well, since no one in Paris has been able to buy any cheese, it's become much more rare and people aren't allowed to take cheese out of the border of France. Luckily, things will slowly get back to normal. But for now, I don't want to get any unwanted attention."

"You can't take any cheese out of the border of France!?!" asked Austin, "Then how are we going to get this cheese to Tyrone and Tasha? By smuggling it?"

"Exactly." said Uniqua, grinning.

It was risky. It was dangerous. It could go horribly, horribly wrong. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

They started the car and drove off. After a few minutes, Uniqua, Austin, and Pablo could just see the boarder of France.

"We're almost there!" said Uniqua, "We made it without being caught!"

As if on cue, the sound of police sirens was suddenly heard. They all looked behind them and saw a police car following them.

"Uh-oh." the three of them thought out loud. Austin stopped the car.

The police car also stopped and an officer walked up to them. His face was covered by his helmet, but his white fuzzy ears and furry paws showed that he was a polar bear.

"Do you know why I stopped you?" he asked.

Austin answered. "Uh... because you wanted to say 'hi'?"

"Yes, hi!" he waved, "But also to check to make sure that you aren't carrying cheese with you. Any cheese that you have needs to be confiscated before you leave France."

Another guard stepped out of the police car, and then a six-foot-five brown bear border gendarme (that's French for 'scary cop who held a police notepad in one hand and the Backyardigans' fate in the other). He began his interrogation.

"Where were you?" he asked in French.

Uniqua answered, also in French. "France."

"Why?"

"We were doing research for school."

"For only _one day_?"

"Yes. We have a report due tomorrow." It was a lie. They weren't evenin kindergarden yet.

"Empty your pockets!" screamed the gendarme, "All of you! Now!" The two guards stepped forward.

Uniqua and Austin knew the guards wouldn't find any evidence of cheese in their pockets. Only wait. Pablo! Austin turned to look at Pablo, who looked like he was about to have a panic attack. When Pablo reached into his back pocket, a fistful of cheese badges spilled out.

"The cheese shop!" said the gendarme, grinning with malevolence.

Austin spoke up. "Look, the cheese shop is selling cheese now, see for yourself."

"That may be true, but we are still supposed to check for cheese." said a guard.

The other guard literally picked up Pablo out of the car (the roof of the car was already down) and placed him (gently) on the sidewalk. Uniqua and Austin opened the car doors and walked out. Pablo -who by now was looking slightly pale and mildly traumatized- walked over to his friends and found something fascinating to stare at on the ground between his toes.

Uniquaand Austin, sweating, watched a brown and white spotted dinosaur (named Boy) nose through the car with the police. A pair of mechanics came and removed the doors and ripped them apart. Nothing. Then they put them back together, which was very nice, considering.

They opened the glove compartment. Two of Uniqua's books were in it, completely un-related to cheese. The gendarme looked astonished. He picked one up and started flipping through it.

Uniqua began to prattle, almost beg. "_Je te disque je suis etudiant_," she said, "I told you I studied. We don't have cheese. We - I - would never risk my life on something like cheese. Please. Everything's fine. There is nothing. Yes, we went to the cheese shop. We were able to look at cheese, but we brought nothing back."

They'd never spoken such fluent French in their lives.

The gendarme wasn't buying it.

Suddenly, the dinosaur sniffed the boot of the car and started barking. The gendarme walked up to him.

Uniqua looked nervously at Austin. Austin just looked down and shook his head, his ear drooping. Pablo covered his eyes. This was the end.

The gendarme opened the boot. One of the guards peered in. "_Chapeau, c'est tout._" "It's just a hat." he said. He thought the dinosaur had just smelled Pablo's cheese hat, and he didn't bother to look under Pablo's apron, which was covering the real cheese. They were saved.

**"_OU EST LE FROMAGE?!_" **the gendarme demanded, louder now, the frustration ringing in his voice. "Where is the cheese!?! I know you have it!" he yelled.

Austin just shrugged. He knew enough French to understand the question, but he pretended like he didn't. Uniqua and Pablo said nothing.

The gendarme stared back at the three of them with a mixture of annoyment and boredom. "_...Au Revoir,_" he finally said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

Uniqua, Austin, and Pablo jumped into their car and drove away. In the car they were overjoyed. Giddy.

"That was close." said Uniqua.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: This chapter was inspired by a story tittled "The Crossing", by Jason Sheftell, and a scene from a Backyardigans episode called 'Caveman's Best Friend'. And yes, I did 'cheat' the Backyardigan tradition of only having five talking characters by adding the three police officers. I decided to make one of them a polar bear because it is Nelvana Studio's (the studio that animates The Backyardigans) symbol.**


	5. Back at the Hotel

Uniqua, Austin, and Pablo eventually arrived at the hotel.

"We brought the cheese!" yelled Uniqua, carrying the large slice of cheddar and dropping it on the coffee table.

"That's great! I bet Peanut will love it!" said Tyrone.

Uniqua, Pablo, and Austin both looked at each other, puzzled. "Peanut? Who's Peanut?"

Tyrone smiled, went into the kitchen, and then came back with the cage in his arms. Inside it was the little grey mouse.

"This is Peanut." said Tyrone.

"Wow. H-How'd you get him inside the cage?" asked Austin.

"When I made some peanut butter sandwiches, I found out that he liked peanut butter. So I put some in the cage, and he just scurried into it." said Tyrone. He reached into the cage to pet Peanut, who licked Tyrone's finger affectionately.

"Awwww..." said everyone.

"I didn't know mice liked peanut butter." said Pablo.

"Well, it _is_pretty tasty." said Tyrone.

"Does that mean that you're going to keep him?" asked Austin.

"I phoned my mom, and she says that I can keep him!" said Tyrone happily.

(Tune: I've 'Got a Pet' song, from 'Caveman's Best Friend'.)

**Ty: I finally found the pet of my dreams, I really like him a lot, he likes me, it seems.  
I guess he's kinda wild, but he's so very sweet, and he's the greatest mouse ever, and that's hard to beat.  
I was all alone, when I walked to this house, but then I walked out, with a new grey mouse.  
It's the greatest day that I have had yet, I got a very cute, huggable, lovable pet!  
****I got a pet, oh yeah, I got a pet, mm-hmm, someone to go fetch, or whatever he wants to play.  
I got a pet, mm-hmm, I got a pet, that's right, I got a fluffy little friend here to stay!**  
**I hope the good times with my mouse never end, 'cause he is this moose's number one best friend.  
When it comes to this friendship, I don't have a regret, he's just the sweetest little pet that I have ever met.  
****I got a pet, oh yeah, I got a pet, mm-hmm, a soft companion, in this month called May.  
I got a pet, mm-hmm, I got a pet, that's right, I got a fluffy little friend here to stay!**

After the Backyardigans left the hotel, they went straight into the pet store to get some supplies for Peanut.

And Tyrone still has him to this day.

The End.


End file.
